Better With the Lights Off
by DarkBlaze14
Summary: Sango has gotten a little behind while planning a Christmas party, and even with Miroku's help, things don't go according to plan. MirSan. Modern A/U.


Sango woke with a hint of reluctance as the chill of a winter morn struck her skin. She blinked the slumber out of her eyes, and shifted in her bed to avoid the light shining in through the cracks in her blinds. Blood rushed to her face as she released a deep sigh, for she had dug herself into quite a hole. A sluggish, outstretched arm felt around her nightstand for her phone, and its contents only further served as a catalyst for crisis. Sango's heart surged when she caught sight of the time as well as her notifications; for the first time in a while, she had slept in, and for the first time in even longer, Miroku had left a serious text message, free of any accompanying image or ironic string of emojis. The text itself was enough for Sango to break out into a smile. The message was simple but heartfelt, and it read: _"How are you today?"_

As much as she hated to play on pity, Sango decided to be truthful with her response: _"A little stressed out!"_

She sat up, and ran her hands over her face and through her hair, doing anything to shake the apathy flowing through her body. There was almost no need, for her phone rang soon after, jolting her wide awake. It was Miroku again.

Sango stuttered with her movements, but was delighted to answer the call. "Hello?"

"Hey! What's wrong?"

She felt the stinging rush of color to her cheeks again, "Oh! Nothing, really. It's- I didn't mean it like that, it's not that bad."

Miroku's chuckle warmed her ears, "Are ya' sure? Because we can talk about it..."

Sango thought for a moment, but acquiesced, "I, uh, well... I'm supposed to host the Christmas party this year, you know. And I don't have anything decorated, anything planned-"

"You do know tomorrow's Christmas Eve, right?"

"Yes, I know. I've just been so caught up with work, and doing other things," her voice became distraught, "time just slipped away. I don't even have presents for anyone..."

Miroku intervened, "Well, if that's all, I can help you decorate and shop if you want."

Sango was taken aback by the offer, "You'd really do that?"

"Of course!"

She felt a wave of energy pass through her, but soon felt it too good to be true. "Wait a minute, what do you want out of this?" Sango asked, revealing some agitation.

"N-nothing!" was the nervous answer, "Can't a guy just help a friend?"

Sango cocked her eyes toward the phone, but pushed her skepticism aside. She sighed, "I'm sorry. I would really appreciate the help..."

"It's no problem." Miroku assured her, "I'll be over in about an hour, okay?"

Sango thanked him, but couldn't escape the cloud of doubt over her. Based on past experiences, she had every right to be cynical. "He's up to something..." she whispered as she ended the call, refusing to believe otherwise. It didn't matter if Miroku was plotting something, because she couldn't prepare for a party in a day's time on her own anyway. Sango put all this behind her, and made her way to the bathroom to get ready.

With her teeth brushed and face cleansed, she ventured to her closet to pick an outfit. From there, she carried out the daily routine she didn't know she had the energy for; her bed was made, the trash taken out, she even put on some makeup to go out. She passed her awaiting cat Kirara in the living room, and poured her a bowl of food with a smile. It was truly amazing how Miroku could change Sango's mood in such ways, whether it was for better or worse. Even the simplest of interactions with him had this effect, and the reason wasn't elusive - she loved him.

She had only recently admitted it to herself. Perhaps it came down to how close she felt to him, or how monotonous her life had grown, or a lack of better alternatives; but Sango was ready for something to change. By her reasoning, the best way to induce such a shift was to tell Miroku how she felt. So, she had decided to do so, although she hadn't determined the right time for it. Miroku had often made advancements that were turned down, so even the thought of revealing her affection made Sango red with embarrassment.

Just as she began to ponder these things, the doorbell rang. Indeed, it was a well-layered Miroku outside, eager to get to work. He spoke through the top of his scarf, motioning her outside with gloved hands, "Well, don't just stand there! Come on! Chop chop! We don't have all day!"

Sango obliged and slipped her coat on, but shook her head with a nervous smile. "I'm really not sure we can do this..."

"Not with that attitude!" Miroku returned, seating himself in his car. He looked to his friend as she sat next to him, "Do we need decorations? Or just gifts?"

"I have a tree and ornaments in the attic somewhere." Sango answered, buckling her seatbelt. "But I need lights. Lots of lights."

Miroku started the car, sending a wave of much-desired heat through the vents. "This doesn't have to be anything big, you know."

"I know, but Kagome hosted it last year, and everything was so beautiful and well-put together." Sango rested her head on her fist, "I can't just _not decorate_..."

"Ah, trying to play the one-up game, are we?" Miroku laughed, turning out of the driveway.

"No!" was the defensive reply. "I just want everything to look nice."

Miroku smiled, "Like you _didn't_ wait until the last minute." He flinched as Sango reared back with her hand, "Oh, come on! I'm only kidding..."

"I told you I've been caught up with work." she growled, lowering her arm. "I went overtime every day last week. I've never felt this tired in my life."

Miroku tightened his grip on the steering wheel, "You push yourself too hard, Sango." Both parties blushed, but neither would look to the other. "I wish you'd take it easier sometimes."

Those words sat with them for some time, until Miroku slowed to a stop at a red light. Sango felt an urge creep into her conscience, and she couldn't help but speak up over the low hum of the radio. "Uh, Miroku?" she grabbed his attention, "There's... there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

Miroku waited with open ears for a moment, and looked to Sango when she said nothing further. He tilted his head at her red face, "Yes?"

"Well, I, uh-"

A disruption came in the form of a loud horn blaring from behind them, prompting Miroku to look ahead and see that the light had turned green. He gave a nervous wave as he hit the accelerator, and grumbled, _"People are always in such a rush..."_ He shook his head, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Sango had thought better of making such a sudden confession, "Oh, there's the Seiyu!" She pointed ahead, trying to divert their course of conversation as much as that of their travel.

Miroku gave her a look of skepticism, but approached their destination without any complaints. The two only made hushed comments until they walked through the doors of the market, and decided to split up. Sango briefed Miroku on his objective again, which was simply to get the decorative lights. They set off, and while Sango had intended to wander aimlessly to find gifts for her friends, she couldn't help but stray toward the electronic section of the store.

In a similar manner, Miroku couldn't control himself when faced with two attractive young women in the paint aisle aisle. He smirked, and studied them from afar while plotting an approach. With the utmost of confidence, he spoke between them: "Hello ladies, decorating for the holidays?"

One of them smiled, "Yes, I'm planning on re-painting my room after the New Year."

The other rolled her eyes, "And she can't decide what shade of blue to make it."

"May I see?" Miroku asked, holding his hand out to receive the color samples. After examining each of them, he held one up, "I think you should go with this one," he grinned, "it matches your beautiful eyes to perfection."

Both of the women blushed, "Oh, well thank you, I-"

Any further pleasantries were cut short by the arrival of Sango, who didn't hesitate in grabbing hold of Miroku's ear and dragging him away, despite his protests. She didn't let go of him until they were at the Christmas decorations aisle, "Are you serious? You can't stop flirting for ten minutes to grab some lights?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to be done so quickly!" Miroku explained, rubbing his ear. His eyes fell to the cart Sango was pushing, which contained a large box. "What did you get?"

"A VR system." was the response, blighted by some lingering anger. "I thought I might get it as my gift to everyone instead of giving individual gifts. We could put it in the summer house, so we can all share it."

"Aren't those things really expensive?"

Sango shrugged, walking over to place a few rolls of lights in the cart. "I have extra money from working so much, so why not? It just makes things easier."

"You know you don't have to do that..."

"Yes, but I want to."

Miroku crossed his arms, "Well, if you're sure you can afford it, I think everyone will love it." He looked around, "So are we done here, then?"

"I don't know, are there any more women you'd like to flirt with?"

"Sango, please..."

Her ironic tone was made clear though her hand gestures, "No, no. I'm serious. Go ahead, we have plenty of time."

Miroku thought for a moment, examining her body language. "Really?"

 _"Of course not!"_ Sango erupted, clenching her fists, "Are you kidding me? I can't even take you out in public? Just - ugh. Forget it. Let's get out of here."

With that, the two made their way back to Sango's house, where they spent the remainder of the afternoon stringing lights and distributing various other decorations about the home from the attic. The Christmas tree was the last piece to be put up, and it wasn't until the final ornament was placed on it that Sango and Miroku took leave of their work. They sat next to each other on the couch to admire their craft, but could only do so for a moment before passing out against one another. The only stirring for the remainder of that night came from their calm breaths as they relished in the serenity of sweet slumber.

* * *

 _"Mph... I love you, Miroku..."_ Sango snapped awake the next morning as she heard herself say those words aloud, crossing the short bridge between dream and reality. Her head was resting on Miroku's chest, and his arm was wrapped around her back with his hand on her rear. Sango felt a rush of blood to her face, and although she would have normally lashed her palm across his cheek, she decided to slither out of his grasp. She could only hope that Miroku hadn't heard her as she crept to the nearest window to open the blinds.

To her surprise, heavy snowfall greeted Sango's eyes instead of the expected frosty grass. The sun's light reflected off the white Earth with a stinging intensity, enough to wake Miroku on the spot.

"Sorry," Sango whispered, "I can't believe it's snowing this hard already..."

Miroku grunted, and pulled himself up to see out of the window. He yawned, "I think I remember seeing a forecast for that."

"I hope everyone can make it this afternoon..." Sango said, studying the large flakes falling from the heavens.

"Everyone lives close enough, they should be fine. It's Kohaku you should worry about."

Sango shook her head, "He won't be home this year."

"Really? Why?"

"He's staying with some friends closer to his school, because they have to be back for something in a few days. I can't remember what exactly he said."

"That's not right," Miroku declared, "he's still a kid. He should be able to spend Christmas at home."

Sango shrugged, "He could have, but if this snow keeps up, he probably made the right decision. I don't think he could've gotten on a flight with it snowing like this." She sighed, "It's the first Christmas we haven't spent together."

Miroku stood, and wandered to the window to place an arm on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Don't worry, we'll try to make this one special."

Sincere lips curled up, "Thank you, Miroku. For everything."

"It was my pleasure."

Sango looked behind her to the television, where the virtual reality system had been set up with a bright red bow . "I hope everyone likes it..."

"I don't think there will be any problem there. Which reminds me," Miroku retracted his arm to reach into his back pocket, "Merry Christmas, Sango."

From his hand dangled a sparkling silver necklace, with a round pendant sporting an intricate geometric design. In the middle of it rested a bright diamond. Sango nearly gasped at the sight of it, and took it in her hands, "Oh my goodness, it's beautiful..."

Miroku fastened it behind her neck, and wrapped his arms around her. He smiled, "I didn't know what you might want, so I hope it's alright."

They parted, and Sango glanced down at the necklace again. "I love it. Thank you so much, Miroku." As she reveled in the sight of her gift, a sudden realization dawned on her, "Hang on, what time is it?" She checked her phone, "Oh my, it's past noon! They'll be here in a few hours!"

That time was spent making final preparations, and ultimately ended in Miroku and Sango watching half of a movie from the couch. The film was paused as the time of the party drew near, and just as the sun dipped below the horizon, both the sky and Sango's house went dark. The two inside were left dazed for a few moments, until it became apparent that the power had flicked off. Miroku quit the room, opened the front door to investigate, and was almost blown back by a strong gust of wind. Nearly a foot of snow had accumulated on the ground, with larger flakes falling by the second.

He shut the door, and re-entered the living room. "It's a full-on blizzard out there."

Sango's stomach dropped as she looked at all the dimmed lights hung around her house, drained of life by the volatile weather. It was disheartening to find all of their hard work fall short in such a way, and as the minutes passed with no indication of the power returning, Sango felt a few tears form beneath her eyes. This frustration peaked as a pair of headlights shined through the window, and she could only sob into her hands.

"Oh, Sango, please don't cry..." Miroku pleaded, seating himself next to her. He rubbed her shoulders, "It's okay. We can still have a good time."

"All that hard work for nothing..." Sango sniffed, "I knew it was a bad idea to host it this year."

Miroku didn't quite know what to say, as he had rarely seen Sango break down before. Just as he went to console her further, three loud knocks sounded out through the house. Miroku stood, followed the flashlight on his phone, and paced toward the door to let everyone in.

Shippo was the first into the house, leaping off of Inuyasha's shoulder, "Merry Christmas, Miroku!" the young one exclaimed, latching himself onto Miroku's arm.

Inuyasha dragged the bulk of the gifts through, followed by Kagome, who carried her fair share in food. Koga, who also bore a present or two, came in as well. "What, you people live in the stone age?" he remarked, closing the door behind him. "Why are all the lights off?"

Miroku shushed him, and looked toward the living room. "The power just went out a few minutes ago. Sango's very upset about it..."

"Why?" Kagome asked, peering over the stack of plates she carried, "It's not like she can do anything about that."

"I know. You tell her that." Miroku grinned, "I'll look around for some candles or something."

"There's a few lanterns in the closet." Sango directed, approaching Miroku from behind. She wiped her eyes, "I'm sorry, everyone. I knew I'd mess this up somehow..."

"Oh, _gimme a break_. None of this _boo-hoo_ crap." Inuyasha asserted, ghosting past Sango into the darkness of the living room.

"Inuyasha, can you see in there?" Kagome called, and was promptly answered with a distant crash and a cry of pain. She shook her head, and looked to Sango with a smile, "I'm sure what he _meant_ to say was that it's not your fault, and we can make do."

Miroku nodded, removing a few battery-powered lanterns from the closet. "Exactly what I said." He illuminated the path to the kitchen so that Kagome could set her things down, and soon the entire house was lit with the lanterns and a few candles.

"You have a fireplace, right Sango? Why don't we build a fire?" Kagome suggested.

Shippo gasped, "Does that mean we can roast marshmallows?"

"Of course we can." Sango said.

"Woah! What's this?" Inuyasha shouted from the living room. Everyone converged to find him and Koga trying on the two virtual reality headsets, struggling to fit one over Inuyasha's ears.

Sango sighed again, "That's my gift to everyone - one of those VR sets. I was _hoping_ we'd get to try it out tonight, but-"

"Wow! It looks so cool!" Kagome hugged Sango, "Thank you so much! We'll all get to play it at some point. It's the thought that counts!"

"Yeah, thanks Sango!" Inuyasha added.

Koga smirked, "Yeah, it was very thoughtful of ya'. Now I can prove I'm better than dog-boy at _another_ thing."

Their bickering turned to background noise as Shippo jumped on Sango's back, "Yeah, that's the best gift ever!"

Sango smiled, and suddenly all her frustration became negligible. Her decorations weren't illuminated, but the faces of her friends were, and for that she was the happiest she had been in a long time. After a while, and after everyone had exchanged gifts, they were all sat in front of the fireplace, huddled around a board game on the floor. Sango had quit the room to throw something away, and was met by Miroku at the doorway upon her return.

The two of them watched the others play for a moment, "See? That didn't turn out so bad, did it?" Miroku joked.

"I guess not. At least everyone made it here safe." Just as Sango was about to walk off, she noticed that Miroku was holding mistletoe above them. She blushed, and fumbled over her words, "M-Miroku? What are you - where did you get that?"

"I don't know." He smirked, "Why don't you tell me what you were going to say in the car yesterday?"

Before she could answer, Miroku leaned in, and pressed his lips to hers, ultimately releasing a tension that had been forming between them for years. Such connections could only form from the most familiar of relationships, in which the purest of dreams are fulfilled. Indeed, all of Sango's fantasies had sparked to life with that one gesture, which was coupled with the words "I love you too." Their friends had grown quiet watching them, but the couple cared not, as their silence merely prolonged the moment.

Of course, once it had been prolonged enough, Inuyasha grew impatient. " _Hey!_ Would you two quit sucking face and come take your turn already?"

 _"Sit, boy!"_

Game tokens and fake currency flew through the air as Inuyasha crashed into the floor. Sango and Miroku smiled into each other's kiss, and finally parted to culminate the greatest gift either of them could have received: a confirmation of their mutual love, which would extend far beyond the holiday season.

* * *

 **A/N: Merry late Christmas, everyone! This was written as a secret santa gift for itinerant-monk on Tumblr. I hope you all enjoyed, and if you did, leave a review/favorite! Love you all, have a happy New Year!**


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